Hempy bucket first time question?

Hi gang, I'm taking my first plunge into running a hempy bucket and so far not so great.
The gig
1- 5 gal bucket
filled with perlite ( course)
three to one Vermiculite mixed in
about 1 inch hole drilled 2 inches up from bottom
a pinch of Mychooziazzl (sp) in the mix
1 Shakzilla strain vegged for about 1 month
BUT only placed in Hemp pot 1 week ago*
3 weeks under CFL
1 week under 400 MH light
Fed 3 times
Twice water, once 50% strength Grow nute

Its lookin like its going to bite it, and its a nice strain I hate to lose.
* regarding this point, I understand one must be dilligant while the roots make their way through the perlite and down to the reseviour after just being transplanted from a small pot it was raised in until it was chosen to be the candidate for this experiment. I'll have to get a few pics on here but it looks like the leaves are yellowing especially at the bottoms and the leavs at the top are cupping in an upward swing on the leaves telling me that it is thirsty, but I'm not sure if thats correct.
I'm used to lifting my same ole dirt pots all the time and I know what they feel like so I could feed them blind if I had to, but I'm not used to the difference in the HP. Because of the 2 inches of res, it feels rather heavy to lift.
So the question is, how long does it take the roots to make it to the bottom and hit the res at which point it may take a turn for the better

....If it lives that long.

Any brothers ( or sisters) here who have raised them please advise.

I'm new at it, but I've seen some pics of some nicely done hempys and I've seen very impressive, nice yielding looking girls in these things.

I forgot to mention its been misted 3 times, twice with water and once with A little Thrive Alive in the water

I am no expert on hempy buckets but I know you should water daily til you see a good growth spurt then you know the roots have made there way to the rez! Also did you use perlite or vermiculite that had nutes in it! also check your ph it should be 6ish little under or a little over I think! Just got one going myself and it looks fngreat! Good luck sure someone with more knowlege will be on to check it out.

Bsafe

No the perlite and Vermiculite contain nothing more than a little dusting of root powder in it, and like I said I gave it half strength of grow nutes in one of the waterings. As far as PH goes, awhile back I've accepted that my city tap waters consistent level between 6-7 left me better off than this Hanna meter I have here that I never had full faith in. Its one of their $25.00 models and I never had any luck in keeping it calibrated. I have several different cal. fluids and I can get it spot on, go and check something, go back to the fluid again and its off again by full points so I'm afraid of doing more harm than good trying to guess at the correct PH.

Thanks BB, anybody else?

I've tried a hempy but couldn't handle watering so much so scrapped it. I really wanna try again. From reading up on hempys the ph should be in the hydro range as it is essentially a form of hydro growing. Hope this helps mate. I'm gonna try this style again as it looks like a different/interesting way to advance from soil growing

Yes, in the beginning you want to water daily until the roots hit the res.. At this point you are starving her. watering daily will take a little over a week in a 5 gallon bucket. you should also spend a little bit of cash and get a decent ph meter. your ph needs to be in the 5.8 - 6.2 range or she wont take up the nutes.

Hello. I am also growing for the first time in a hempy bucket..Im having issues too..First i thought it was lock out so i flushed for a few days then it started to look look like it was over watered...now its starting to look like its burning again.. its been a real pain in the ass...Im using the General Hydroponics formula.. After some reading i started using the lucas formula..now its burning slightly and looks over watered.. but i am seeing new growth where i topped them...The run off from the bucket seems to be pretty stable at 6.0 ph..when i ph the water prior to feeding i tend to ph the water a little bit too low 5.5 or (orange on the GH color chart) and when it runs out the bucket its at about 6. (neon green on the chart).. is that normal? does the ph balance itself in a hempy bucket? ? Its been a pain in the ass... does anyone have some kind of idea of what i need to do?

jonathanray said:

Hello. I am also growing for the first time in a hempy bucket..Im having issues too..First i thought it was lock out so i flushed for a few days then it started to look look like it was over watered...now its starting to look like its burning again.. its been a real pain in the ass...Im using the General Hydroponics formula.. After some reading i started using the lucas formula..now its burning slightly and looks over watered.. but i am seeing new growth where i topped them...The run off from the bucket seems to be pretty stable at 6.0 ph..when i ph the water prior to feeding i tend to ph the water a little bit too low 5.5 or (orange on the GH color chart) and when it runs out the bucket its at about 6. (neon green on the chart).. is that normal? does the ph balance itself in a hempy bucket? ? Its been a pain in the ass... does anyone have some kind of idea of what i need to do?

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My advice would be to get a PH Meter. I dont trust those drops, especially considering the GH Nutes change the color of the water, so I dont see how you can get an Accurate Reading using color drops. More than likely your PH is off,, and are you checking your PPM's?

Yup my hempys look like shit until the roots hit the res, I water every day right around the stem.When the roots make it down, youl know!

Rofl i dont even know what ppm is.. i know its parts per million but thats it.. i have no idea about anything else... this is my second grow ever. first was autos in FFOF...they seem to be growing regulary.. just yellow tips on new growth and one is drooping and the other is pointing up..both looks like nute burn or ph imbalance..I appreciate the help..ill get a meter for sure..

These are what mine are looking like right now.. The strain is blue widow.. I had seen what looked like serious nute burn or ph issues...so i flushed for about 4 days and lowered my ph.. now its consistantly at around 6.0 but i have the drops right now so im sure its off. ill be getting a meter here in the next day or so......i am assuming the ph is pretty close.. not so off that its causing these problems...once i get the meter ill confirm that..but i really think its the nutes.. keep in mind these plants are just a couple weeks old and my first feeding i went full strength for seedlings with just the GH MICRO...nute burn!...flushed for 4 day...then half strength with GH MICRO AND FLORA..had to flush again...they have been in the state you see in the pics since then.. for about 5 or 6 days..im not keeping that close a count of the days...they are still growing.. new tops are coming in..but are still yellow... the old leaves continue to yellow.. I fed after the second 4 day flush..but this time with the lucas formula. at half strength... so 4ml MICRO and 8ml BLOOM i also diluted that feeding.. by half.. i just ran water until i though about half the reservoir flushed...woke up this morning with noticeable growth of the new tops but still yellowing and drooping..im going to run another feeding right now of the lucas formula but at 2ml MICRO and 4ml BLOOM..and see what that does in the next couple of days.